News Update

Communications Director Job Opening

The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association (NDSA) is seeking an enthusiastic, creative professional with an agricultural background to direct the organization’s internal and external communications efforts. A complete job description is available at www.ndstockmen.org. Application deadline is Oct. 15. For more information contact Julie Schaff Ellingson, NDSA communications director, at 701-223-2522.

Angus Journal Readers ...

Please take the opportunity to help set the future direction of the Angus Journal by completing the readership survey available in your September issue or online at www.apisurvey.uark.edu. Those answering the survey and entering by Nov. 20 will be eligible for a drawing of $2,500 in prizes, including two $500 cash prizes.

Association Members ...

All members of the American Angus Association are encouraged to check out the latest news available from the Association at www.angus.org. Online now you’ll find the minutes to the September Board of Directors meeting, information on the upcoming National Angus Conference & Tour, information for the Annual Convention of Delegates in Louisville, Ky., during the North American International Livestock Exposition, and much more.

FAZD Center Will Introduce a Model Network for Alerts to Owners of ‘Backyard’ Herds and Flocks

The National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense (the FAZD Center) will introduce a model network for alerting owners of noncommercial livestock and poultry to potential outbreaks of highly contagious and potentially catastrophic animal diseases at a national conference in Texas this week.

The County Animal Security and Health Network (CASHN) is a county-level network of feed retailers established and maintained by county Extension agents. The network is activated by the state veterinarian to deliver critical disease alerts and educational material to owners of noncommercial livestock and poultry. CASHN has been pilot tested in six states.

The FAZD Center will feature CASHN at the National Extension Conference for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense on Sept. 18-19 at the El Paso Airport Wyndham Hotel. The event is cosponsored by the FAZD Center and the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN). The conference will emphasize the risks posed by foreign animal and zoonotic diseases (FAZDs) to the agricultural economy and to human health.

FAZDs (pronounced “FAZ-dees”) are exotic to the United States and in many cases are transmissible from animals to humans. Notable examples include avian influenza, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and Rift Valley fever.

The conference will raise awareness of FAZDs among Extension dairy specialists, livestock specialists, veterinary medicine specialists, poultry specialists and county Extension agents. Sixteen states will be represented at the conference: Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Arkansas, Idaho, New Jersey, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Michigan, New Hampshire, Kansas and Wisconsin.

“It is vital that producers, specialists, agents and noncommercial owners understand the threats posed by FAZD outbreaks,” said Neville Clarke, director of the FAZD Center. “Whether the introduction of a FAZD is intentional or unintentional, the results can be devastating to a local, regional or even national economy.”

CASHN was developed by Tom “Andy” Vestal, a FAZD Center principal investigator and an Extension specialist with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service of the Texas A&M System, and FAZD Center investigator Shannon Degenhart, an Extension program specialist.

Grant Funding Available to Support Innovative Ideas for Farms, Ranches

Innovative farmers and ranchers who want to implement a new, sustainable idea to improve their operation are encouraged to apply for grants available through the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) Program.

The program awards grants to farmers and ranchers for on-farm research, demonstrations, and education projects. By providing funds ranging from $6,000 per individual grant to up to $18,000 for grants awarded to groups of three or more, NCR-SARE helps facilitate essential agricultural research and development.

Cal Adams of Beloit, Kansas is a 2007 grant recipient. With the cost of commercial fertilizer mirroring the price of oil this past year, producers like Adams are looking at other options to build soil nutrients. He will research the question of how to maintain optimum production of cool-season pastures while decreasing costs and improving late season forage quality. Many have tried to include alfalfa and sweet clover into the grass mix, but haven’t been able to maintain persistent and productive stands of legumes or forfeiting grass production or quality.

Adams is working with Keith Harmoney of Kansas State University, and Dwayne Rice of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), to look at the effects of adding legume crops such as grazing-tolerant alfalfa, bird’s-foot trefoil, hairy vetch, and others to his pastures.

NCR-SARE grants are awarded based on applicants’ ability to describe how their project will be sustainable in terms of their long-term profitability, being good for the environment, producing healthy foods, being socially responsible and supporting their community.

Last year NCR-SARE funded 50 Farmer Rancher grants totaling $394,229. This year, farmers and ranchers throughout the North Central Region will again have the opportunity to apply for roughly $400,000 in grant assistance.

Applications for the 2008 NCR-SARE producer grant program are now available.

To review the program and discuss grant writing basics, the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops and the Kansas SARE Program are sponsoring a seminar on Sept. 22 beginning at 7 p.m. Registration is limited to the first 40 people. The online seminar, also called a webcast, is accessible via a computer browser such as Internet Explorer with Internet requirements of at least DSL/cable connection (dial-up modem will not work). To learn how to participate in the webcast, participants should go to the webcast page, http://www.kansassustainableag.org/grantwriting.htm. Before participating, they should follow instructions on the webcast page to be sure they have the appropriate software and connection.

Grant proposals are due in the NCR-SARE office by Dec. 1, 2008. Interested applicants may contact Kansas SARE Coordinator Jana Beckman at 785-532-1440 or beckman@ksu.edu, or the NCR-SARE Farmer Rancher Grant Program Coordinator Joan Benjamin at 402-472-0809 or ncrsare@umn.edu.

The current Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals application can be found on the NCR-SARE web site at http://ncr.sare.org/prod.htm.

— compiled by Tosha Powell, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.